Bad sleeping is just getting worse

Adrian was a fantastic sleeper until he hit 4 months, since then it`s gradually going downhill where I will get up to him at least 8 times a night or on a good night 3 or 4 times, he`ll have episodes where he`ll wake every 30 - 60 minutes for a number of hours, then sleep for 2 hours then up again and maybe at times stay up wide awake for a good 2plus hours.

Last night it just got worse, he was awake every 15 minutes until 12.20am then every hour until 4.30am then he slept and Mummy had to get up at 7am, Adrian woke about 7.30am.

During the day he`ll only have one sleep and has done since he was about 8.5/9 months, this one sleep will usually only be 30 or 40 minutes.

As you can see Adrian isn`t a big fan for sleeping but Mummy is exhausted, I can`t catch up on any sleep at all as I also have Matthew to run around after and he`s always on the go, no rest for the wicked here!!!!

Anyone have any advice as to how to get Adrian to sleep for longer periods.

:hug: I don't have any suggestions to help his sleep, sorry, but for yours: Is having him in bed with you an option? If he just needs comfort you can pat/cuddle him without having to wake up properly, plus you don't have to get up in the cold.

DH broke the cot a few weeks ago & I started bring Lucas into bed and I've noticed I'm getting more sleep, even though he stirs 3 or 4 times after we go to bed. (DH has fixed the cot, but not to my liking)

Hopefully someone else might have a suggestion to help Adrian.

:hug: no suggestions here either except maybe bringing him into bed.
Are you sure he's warm enough? Maybe with all the freezing weather at the moment you could try an extra blanket and see if it makes a diiferance.

To get extra sleep you could maybe try something that one of my friends came up with when she was pregnant with number 3. She child-proofed a room as much as humanly possible and then put some toys in it and cat-napped across the doorway. Her boys couldn't leave the room without waking her so although the situation wasn't ideal she was getting a little bit of much needed rest.
Can you roster your DH on for a night or a few hours so you can catch up on your rest.
It's torturous when you can't get any sleep but eventually this phase will pass :hug:

And I thought my DS was bad! You poor thing. It sounds to me that your DS has gotten himself into a nasty sleep pattern and is so overtired he can't relax nicely into sleep IYKWIM. I've not had a full night's sleep since I was about 7 months pregnant and I know how this feels myself...I am so tired but sometimes I just cannot go to sleep because I am so used to having tiny little sleeps.

Just to troubleshoot:

Do you have to get up to him ie can he ever settle himself back to sleep? No toys in the cot to distract him?

Is the room too light/too dark/too warm/too cold? Are his jarmies warm enough or alternatively is he too hot in what he is wearing? Is he kicking blankets off - if he is try a sleeping bag. I'm inclined to think he is not too cold because he would then be waking more frequently in the early hours of the morning and you say this is when he finally settles for a bit longer.

Is it noisy outside his room? Perhaps a lullaby CD playing softly in his room would help mask outside noises that might be disturbing him.

Is he having a nice big dinner before bed? ie he's definitely not hungry? Or alternatively, whatever he's eating for dinner, is it very sweet or something that might be difficult to digest and therefore disturbing his sleep?

Is he teething? (I know that some people say teething shouldn't affect sleep but pfft to that).

Do you have a bedtime routine that involves winding down time so he is nice and calm when you put him down?

Are you still breastfeeding? If so try cutting caffeine out of your diet - my DS was a different baby in 24 hours when I did this.

This might sound crazy but you could also try putting him to bed earlier than normal. I know that sounds strange but this actually worked with my DS and it didn't make him wake up earlier. We thought our DS was a baby that didn't need as much sleep as the average baby and when I first heard this suggestion I thought it was mad but now he goes to sleep around 6.00-6.30pm and he still wakes up at 6.00am regardless. We love it because he gets more sleep and we get our early evenings free!

I hesitate to suggest this last one because I'm sure it will be regarded as controversial - if all else fails try sedating him for just one night. My DS got into a really bad waking pattern after a tooth appeared and kept waking 4 to 6 times a night even though there was nothing wrong. I was beside myself and I was positive that DS was not getting enough sleep and because he was overtired it was exacerbating the problem. We gave DS a dose for just one night and he slept for 9 and a half hours straight which he has never done before (or since, but hey) and the following night we went back to our normal one to two brief night wakings. I had my MCHN's blessing, she commented that sometimes this is necessary to break the pattern they have gotten themselves into. I emphasise that I would only do this for just ONE night. I really didn't want to do this ("what! I'm not gonna drug my child" type of thing) but DH kind of made me because he said I needed the break and I was so tired I couldn't put up a fight and I'm so glad that we did because it did knock that nasty little pattern on the head (and I got a decent dose of sleep which I badly needed).

HTH.

oh i really hope his sleep improves for you very soon, i don't have any miracle sleep secrets, just want to let you know that Arch woke on average 8 times a night up til 1 month ago, then all of the sudden he just snapped out of it and now sleeps through 12-14 hours every night. just letting you know that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel, i didn't believe it, but its true!

Goodluck

jules - you don't need to explain yourself, don't feel bad for dosing him up, it obviously worked a treat, and i did the exact same thing with DS a few months ago, his prob started with teething as well. You did a great job and fixed the prob well done

Oh no! Nicholas is almost 4 months now and has just started the same thing. He is waking every half our or so from about 1am onwards. I thought it was because he has had a cold, but it is still going on! Tonight, I have put a heater in his room to see if that helps. I am pretty strict with the bed time routine, same time every night, bath/shower - bottle - story - cuddle and into bed, and I can't thinkof anything else that may have changed for him, but just when you get used to them doing something, they change it!

Good luck and hugs to you :hugs:, I hope things get better for you soon and you get some sleep :asleep:

:redface:Thanks widdly!

And you've given me hope...perhaps my DS will be the same as your DS and one day suddenly snap out of it and start sleeping through too...he has suddenly started being able to settle himself off to sleep and we are not sure what changed there!